


George Smiley's Wikipedia Page

by AreYouReady



Category: A Legacy of Spies - John Le Carre, LE CARRE John - Works, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John Le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carré
Genre: But It's Not Traditional Fic, Experimental, F/M, It's An Imagination Of What George's In-Universe Wikipedia Article Might Look Like in 2019, M/M, This Isn't Fic Exactly, Wikipedia article, i made up a lot of stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 09:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17915909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AreYouReady/pseuds/AreYouReady
Summary: What it says on the tin. An imagining of how George's wiki page might look in universe circa a few years after Legacy.





	George Smiley's Wikipedia Page

**Author's Note:**

> Basically this is fic for A Legacy of Spies? I hate that book but one does wonder what the fuck George has been doing for thirty years. I might write some more traditional fic of what the fuck he was doing in the aughts and tens in this continuity as well, but for now, do with this what you will.
> 
> I couldn't get the formatting to work on AO3. Sorry. It looks just like a Wikipedia article in my html doc. If you wanna see the googledoc where it looks good hmu.

 

 

 

 

#  George Smiley

* * *

 

 **George Smiley, OBE** (born September 8, 1915) is a former British Intelligence officer.1 2 He was involved with the unmasking of Soviet mole Bill Haydon.3 He was the ninth director of the Secret Intelligence Service, from 1973 to 1975.4

 

Contents [hide]

  1. Intelligence career
  2. Haydon investigation
  3. Head of SIS
  4. Operation Windfall scandal
  5. Personal life
  6. Published works
  7. In popular culture
  8. See also
  9. References
  10. External links



 

 

##  Intelligence Career

* * *

 

Smiley joined SIS while at Oxford in 1934. He served as an intelligence officer in Switzerland and Germany during World War II.5 After the war, Smiley left the Service for several years, returning in 1951.6 He served in various counterintelligence roles throughout his career, culminating in his discovery of the Soviet mole Bill Haydon.7 He officially retired several times, the final time in 1976 at the age of 61, but continued to work with British intelligence on a contract basis until the mid 1990’s.8

 

 

##  Haydon investigation

* * *

 

Smiley allegedly began to suspect a mole in the upper echelons of SIS in 1972, but was unable to investigate his suspicion further.9 After the death of the Seventh Head of SIS, Bill Haydon orchestrated a change of power within the organization to protect himself, during the course of which Smiley was forced into retirement.10 Because of this, he was able to investigate Haydon’s activities without being observed.11 Smiley was able to discover Haydon’s treachery through interviews with others who had been dismissed in a similar manner to himself, as well as important clues obtained from Richard Tarr.12 13

Smiley later stated that while he was saddened by his role in the Haydon investigation, as he had considered Haydon a friend, he did not regret it.14

 

 

##  Head of SIS

* * *

 

Smiley became head of SIS in the immediate aftermath of the Haydon investigation.15 Much of the infrastructure of SIS had been compromised at the time by Haydon, and Smiley had a short, difficult tenure as head of service.16 He was succeeded by Saul Enderby.17

 

 

##  Operation Windfall scandal

* * *

 

In 2011, Smiley was brought forward to testify in the Operation Windfall case, regarding the deaths of two British citizens allegedly on his orders.18 Smiley claimed that Operation Windfall happened entirely on the orders of the seventh head of SIS, and that he had very little to do with the planning of it.19 He was never officially charged with any crime.20

The Operation Windfall Scandal lead to the Gold Laws, a set of restrictions placed on the SIS.21

 

 

##  Personal life

* * *

 

Smiley was born in Kent in 1915, the only child of Herman John Smiley and Elsie Hofmann Smiley. He lived in Germany for much of his childhood.22 Smiley attended Lincoln College, Oxford.23

Smiley has pseudonymously published several academic essays and two books on the subject of German literature.24

In 1945, Smiley married Lady Ann Sercombe Smiley.25 Smiley and Sercombe divorced in 1947 on grounds of adultery, and remarried in 1959.26 Although the couple lived apart and were estranged for several decades, during which time Smiley lived primarily in Germany, they did not divorce again until 2011, when Smiley filed for divorce in order to enter into a civil union with his partner of eight years, Hazim Sadik.27 Smiley and Sadik married in England on April 3, 2014.28

 

 

##  Published works

* * *

 

Smiley has published several pieces of scholarly work under various names.29

As George Smiley:

●      “Verb-Position in Grimmelshausen: A Response to Lovell” in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, April of 1934.

As George Stirner:

●      “Water Imagery and Language in German Baroque Poetry” in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, January of 1949.

●      “Adjective Use in Aggripina and Influence on Later Baroque Poets” in the German Quarterly, March of 1953.

●      “Love, Speech, and God in Grimmelshausen” in Renaissance Quarterly, Spring of 1954.

●      _Metaphysics and von Fuchshaim: The Spiritual Impact of the Thirty Years War, _1961.

As G. Schreiber (when publishing as Scheiber, Smiley wrote primarily in German):

●      “Simplicius and Loving God” in the German Quarterly, March of 1998 [English language].

●       _Barockphilologie_ _,_ 2007.

●      “Erotik und Grimmelshausen” in Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur, Spring of 2008.30

 

 

##  In popular culture

* * *

 

Smiley was portrayed by Mark Starr in the 2001 Bill Haydon biopic _Gerald. 31_

He was portrayed by David McCain in the 1994 four part miniseries _Bill Haydon_.32

The character John Crane in the 1989 novel _Bloody Bill,_ a fictionalized account of Haydon’s life, is partially based on Smiley.33 In the 1992 film adaptation of _Bloody Bill,_ entitled _Et Tu, Bill,_ Crane is portrayed by Stephen Daring.34

Internationally acclaimed author Bill Dryden Roach claims that he based the antagonist of his novel _Funeral for a Spy_ on Smiley, though he also stated that he is “sure [Smiley] is perfectly nice in real life.”35

 

 

##  See also

* * *

 

●      Bill Haydon

●      Saul Enderby

●      _My Tainted History: A Lifetime of Marriage to George Smiley_

●      Operation Windfall

●      _Funeral for a Spy_

 

 

##  References

* * *

 

1\.  ^O’Leary, Jackson (1983). _Haydon: The Birth Of The Modern Traitor, _p. 76.

2\.  ^”MI6’s dark past: two former heads of the service on trial.” BBC News 12 January 2011.

3\.  ^O’Leary, p. 76.

4\.  ^”MI6’s dark past: two former heads of the service on trial.”

5\.  ^Jennings, Stuart (1987). _The Haydon Years,_ p. 189.

6\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, Ann (2011). _My Tainted History: A Lifetime of Marriage to George Smiley,_ p. 48.

7\.  ^O’Leary, p. 76.

8\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, p. 99

9\.  ^Short, Alexis (1996). _Cold War Judas,_ p. 203.

10\.  ^Clarke, Joseph (2001). PYM/HAYDON/MACLEAN, p. 145

11\.  ^Clarke, p. 147.

12\.  ^Clarke, p. 150.

13\.  ^Tarr, Daniella (2013). _My Father the Spy,_ p. 43.

14\.  ^Short, p. 510.

15\.  ^Short, p. 509

16\.  ^Janis, George (2010). _The End of Espionage: A Biography of Saul Enderby,_ p. 52

17\.  ^Janis, p. 17

18\.  ^”MI6’s dark past: two former heads of the service on trial.”

19\.  ^“‘Windfall was Control’s Operation’, Smiley testifies.” BBC News 18 January 2011.

20\.  ^“Windfall: The Downfall of MI6?” _The New York Times_ March 13 2011.

21\.  ^“Karen Gold, three years later.” BBC News 8 December 2013.

22\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, p. 206.

23\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, p. 114.

24\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, p. 186

25\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, p. 9

26\.  ^Sercombe Smiley, p. 26

27\.  ^Shawe, LaKeisha (2013). _A Queer History of the Cold War Vol. 3,_ p. 392.

28\.  ^”Twenty High Profile Gay Couples Celebrate UK Marriage Equality.” _The Times,_ 15 April 2014.

29\.  ^“Smiley: Spy, Scholar, Sleuth.”  BBC News 3 August 2011.

30\.  ^“Smiley: Spy, Scholar, Sleuth.”

31\.  ^“Gerald (2001)” _IMDB_.

32\.  ^“Bill Haydon (1994-)” IMDB.

33\.  ^“The Real History Behind _Bloody Bill_ ” _The Times_ 7 March 1990

34\.  ^“Et tu, Bill (1992)” IMDB

35\.  ^“Roach: ‘George Smiley was my Maxwell Stanson.’” _The New York Times,_ 17 October 2011.


End file.
